Expeditions in the South
by Ballawatsch
Summary: Everyday in Heaven's War is a fight for survival. With no clear objective, it's a chaotic killing spree. What will it take to bring peace to Heaven?
1. Chapter 1

**Fire and Air**

Nicky's heavy steps bore down hard on the old wood floor. He hurried past empty rooms to one at the end of the hall. He stopped in the doorway and took a quick glance around the room. A single broken window let in little light from the night sky. A chair with a missing leg was overturned in a corner but nothing else broke the bare boards that made up the floor. It would do. He took three long strides to the opposite wall and eased his companion off his shoulders and propped him up under the windowsill. The man's head hung limp and his arms draped lifeless at his sides but he remained upright. Nicky stood and stretched his back, adjusting his belt that held his two swords. He looked out the window of the short two story building. Overgrown bushes at the base quickly led into the forest that sprouted up everywhere in this area. He knocked the rest of the glass out of the window with his elbow. The clinking sound was muffled by the unnatural silence of the night. He turned back to the door and considered how much time he had. If they were on his trail, it wouldn't be much.

He closed the door and calmed his breathing, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the world was tainted in a red gloss and more than starlight illuminated the room. Taking his forefinger he traced an outline on the frame of the door, leaving behind a trail of burned wood. Tiny sparks of red faded in and out of the charred wood like the last moments of a dying fire. He pulled his finger in front of him, making a straight line on the door and then started again from the top, creating a cross of the burned wood. Reaching the bottom, he kept going, dragging his finger against the rough grain of the floor as he backed up to the opposite wall. He slumped down, withdrawing his finger. His sight returned to normal. In the dark light and empty room, the embers promised a blazing, if short new life.

Now to hope. And wait.

* * *

A sound snatched at Nicky's attention. It would be hard to avoid making noise in such an old building but it could have been anything. He placed his hand on the end of the still glowing trail. Another creak came closer and Nicky shifted to one knee, ready to move. In the dim light let off by his tracing, he could see the doorknob start to slowly turn. He glanced at the still slumped body at his left; he couldn't risk fighting in here. He replaced his hand with his right foot and quickly pulled the heavy weight across his shoulders. He looked back at the door just as the knob clicked. Whoever was behind it abandoned their attempt at stealth and threw the door open. Without even looking, Nicky released the power inside him, he could see the same glow that came from his body emanating from the doorway but he was a step ahead. The trail of embers burst into flame. The cross he set on the door shot outward, engulfing the body in hissing tongues of fire. The fire swallowed the whole doorway as Nicky leapt out the window landing roughly in the bushes. He winced and pulled a shard of glass out from the back of his thigh. He threw it to the ground and hurried into the cover of the trees.

He stopped when he ran out of breath. It wasn't easy carrying such a dead weight. He leaned against a tree as best he could. All he knew was he was heading north. Hopefully that would be enough.

A sharp whistling echoed through the dense trees and thunked into the tree he was leaning against. He dropped down and clutched at the man draped across his back and jumped off to the right. The tree exploded, sending thick splinters flying in all directions. Reverberations thundered through the ground as the rest of the tree came crashing down. One of the splinters made its way through the thick cloth and pierced his back but he couldn't let that little pain get to him now. He kept running with what strength he had left. Trees exploded two steps behind as he dodged left and right, trying to put whole trees in between himself and his pursuer. A last giant fell to the ground and the night quieted but he kept running, he risked a glance back but he couldn't make anything out in the near pitch blackness. He caught his breath when he turned around; synchrotron radiation silhouetted a clump of trees ahead. He skidded to a halt through the litter of leaves and slid the body off his shoulders, laying him flat on the ground. He couldn't dodge them all. He would have to be quick. His right hand naturally found the right hilt and he silently pulled the thin rapier from its sheath. Slowing his breathing, he crouched and moved to meet his prey.

The contractor still glowed but Nicky couldn't see any result. His best bet was to kill the target before he got a chance to react. He waited as the glow came closer. Nicky stayed in the shadow of the tree as the contractor walked seemingly aimlessly around the forest. Something wasn't right. He listened for the careless steps as he came around the tree Nicky was behind. The footsteps stopped, the contractor had spotted the limp body at the base of a tree a few yards away. This was Nicky's chance. He dropped down low and spun to his left bringing up the point of his rapier to pierce up through the man's stomach into his heart. Nicky felt the slight resistance of the man's skin as his blade slid into his flesh. Nicky smirked at the look of surprise etched on his face. Nicky let off his own light as fire raced up the blade and sliced into the man's body. Nicky yanked his sword out and stood up, his blade still ablaze, watching as the flames seemed to grow out of the hole in the man's stomach.

The same thought of something amiss struck Nicky again. He had watched many people die by his flames. But with this man no shrieks escaped his mouth, no smell filled Nicky's nose. As the body fell to the ground, it disintegrated but not from his flames. It was a decoy, a double. That's why there was the radiation without any other effect. Nicky extinguished the smoldering remains and his blade with a quick thought as the feeling of exposure set in. He tried to blend back into the shadows but he felt the back of his right hand heat. Now was not the time. He struggled to control it but a small flame sprung up on the back of his right hand. Now the smell of burning reached his nostrils. This was his contract; he had to give his own body over to the hungry flame if it was going to let him control it. He clenched his teeth against the pain and forgot about making a quiet escape. He rushed back to the exposed body, sheathing the rapier. He heard the whistle and the thunk but he didn't have time to dodge. The blast threw him to the side, knocking him into another tree. Breath was torn from his lungs and he gasped to fill the space left behind but the air was thick with dirt and debris. He coughed and pushed himself up as best he could. The contractor was racing toward him. No time to recover, he jumped to close the short distance and picked up the body. He sprinted ahead just as the tree behind exploded.

"How long are you going to fucking take?" Nicky asked the silent lump. The small flame had spread across the whole back of his hand and it was all he could do to restrain it from spreading any more but he knew he would have to push it even farther if he was going to get out of this alive. With the range this other contractor had, he wouldn't be able to get close so he had to think of something else. It would have to be some sort of trap. With each step he set his footprint on fire. Each small indent quickly spread the fire and burned intensely, leaping to nearby trees. Nicky could feel the flame start to spread up his arm; there was little he could do about that. The explosion of trees briefly stopped before the night howled as the air was torn with a high pitched scream. The collection of whistles thunked into dozens of trees all around. Nicky stumbled forward as the pressure of one knocked him forward. Driven by instinct he threw the body off his shoulders and dove for cover. The thunder of explosions deafened his ears as splinters embedded themselves into his body. He felt a splatter of something wet across his back. He gently got to his hands and knees as the sound of the now blazing fire and crashing trees seeped through the buzzing in his ears. His left arm caved as he put pressure on it, a large splinter was buried near his elbow. He reached over with his still blazing hand and gently pulled it out but he couldn't help the cry that was also pulled from his gut. He looked at the splinter in his hand. It wasn't wood. He threw the bone to the ground. He still needed to get away. A filter of red slid over his eyes as he slapped the ground with his right hand, letting out yet another cry. The next second he was on his feet, doing his best to limp away. Thirty seconds later, his countdown reached zero.

* * *

She ran through the patches of fire to the center of the explosion, taking in everything as she went. Remains of a body were scattered across the forest floor but it wasn't enough to make up the two targets. She had to guess it was the one already incapacitated that she had gotten. She stopped only briefly before continuing ahead. She had just enough time to see a glowing handprint beneath her before the entire area erupted in an explosion of flame.

* * *

Nicky slowed to a stop when he heard a woman's death screams. He leaned against a tree and yanked another splinter from the back of his leg and pulled a small transmitter from his belt. He clicked the button and hesitated only a second. "This is Nicky, MP-255 has been taken care of but the mission failed. Mao is dead."


	2. Chapter 2

**Slave Gods**

The rain didn't want to mix with the red dirt. The beads formed rivulets that ran down the shallow hill that had been clear cut of the surrounding jungle. The sun wasn't meant to shine unhindered on this ground. When the sun was out the heat quickly baked the earth and the constant movement of foot traffic around the outpost created a swirl of dust that coated everything. When the rain came the dust clung unrelenting to every surface, changing to a thick paste rather than washing off. And when the sun inevitably came out again the paste dried, sapping all the moisture and leaving a crusty film that caked skin and cloth and steel. It was an unpleasant place but comfort had no place in war. Nicky almost preferred it to the wild jungle with the threat of an assassin behind every tree but he relished the fleeting feel of freedom that he got out on missions more than being cooped up in a command post where little got done.

Nicky started to limp up the hill. His boots sloshed in the red runoff, he took particular care to note the grainy look of the mixed water, the first time he'd come here he had thought it was blood. As time passed and he got used to the way of war he thought it a fitting image, a geyser of blood erupting from the source of this war for Nicky. No amount of water could ever wash the stains away.

The outpost was a weak display of defense, they knew that no temporary structure could actually stand against a full out attack by any skilled contractor. They put their strategies of defense into other measures; traps in the forest, cameras covering a complete circumference of the fort, a constant supply of their own stationed contractors and, of course, secrecy and a large distance from the main front. Not that there was any organization to this war. Unknowable numbers of organizations all competed for an equally unknown prize, you were as likely to make contact with some faction of the enemy in the next step as you were to blink. But the heaviest cluster of action was close to the center of Heaven's Gate.

Nicky approached the main gate of the outpost, he had already met a patrolling guard before he broke into the clearing and they had called in that he was on his way, so they did little in the way of questioning him. The red taint of the pasty dust covered their skin making it hard to distinguish who they were. Not like it mattered. Nicky was glad it was raining now though so he could get properly bandaged up before he got coated too. He headed to the medical shelter.

It was more of a permanent tent than it was any kind of building. Still, the thick canvas kept out the rain and wind but still let in enough light during the rainstorms to see and reflected enough of the blazing sun to keep cooler the rest of the time. There were a number of cots laid out but only three of them were filled. Two men were laid out under blankets in the back, hooked up to IVs and a third woman was sitting on the edge of her cot, her head in her left hand and her right in a sling. A man with small, round glasses sat in the back corner at a desk. The red insignia on his left arm declared him as a medic. He was studying some papers, scratching out lines and making notes. His head was bent over with his left hand planted firmly in his short hair. Nicky cleared his throat. The man tilted his head up to glance at Nicky. He could almost feel the medic examine him with his eyes as he looked Nicky up and down, paying special attention to his blood and rain soaked bandages he had managed to put on himself. He set his pencil down and got up but turned to a large set of shelves behind his desk. He rummaged around before coming over to Nicky. He motioned for him to take a seat.

The medic sat behind him on the cot and wordlessly began to cut off Nicky's shirt. Nicky thought to protest but then realized he would never get it off any other way anytime soon. When the shirt came off, the medic didn't gasp but Nicky could tell in the way he paused that he was examining more than just the embedded splinters in his back. He couldn't blame anyone for the kind of reactions he got, it wasn't often you saw burn scars to the extent Nicky had, a result of the early days of his contract, before he learned how to control the fire. The medic tried to cover the pause, "It's a rough wood out there, but you didn't have to bring any back with you." He smiled at himself without looking at Nicky. The medic probed at a large splinter near his spine, Nicky twitched and clenched his teeth. A soft blue light suddenly glowed from the medic.

"You're a contractor?" Nicky tensed, alert, his heart pumped with a sudden gush of adrenaline.

The guy's head came back to look Nicky in the eye. "Yes. Can I not be? Not every contractor has to go prancing around out in the jungle, killing anything that moves." His head went back behind Nicky. "But it is best if you hold still."

Nicky drew in a breath and held it, tightly gripping the edge of the cot. The throb of the splinter near his spine waned and a cool sensation spread from where it was. The medic came back around to face Nicky, wagging the long splinter stained red in his face. He made quick work of removing all the splinters and Nicky felt infinitely better.

"A few of these will need to be stitched up, I stopped the bleeding and you shouldn't be in pain, for now. I'll see what I can dredge up for the later though."

"I'm Nicky." He held out his hand. The medic paused a second and set the last splinter down before clasping his hand.

"And I'm Trent. They pulled me here all the way from Philadelphia, much more quiet up there you know." Nicky nodded. Trent let go of his hand. "Right. So, I guess I'll get started on that, I'll be just a few minutes, gotta make a payment and all." He moved back to his desk, setting the tin of bloody splinters on top. He opened a flap in the back of the tent. Nicky caught a glimpse of the other side. It was a partitioned room; Trent must live right here in the medical tent.

Nicky looked up as light and the sound of rain increased as the main flap of the tent was opened. Major Heinmann came straight for him. Nicky quickly appraised his superior to see what kind of mood he was in. While he wore the frown exceedingly well, even that much expression said a lot about the man. Heinmann was always straight faced, rarely frowning and never smiling. His lips seemed to dip so far down it pulled all the skin on his face with it as if he was carrying weights from the flab that covered his cheeks. Nicky moved to throw a lazy salute but winced and put his hand down as the movement tugged at the wounds on his back. All the better to have a legitimate excuse.

"What happened?" was all the came out as the major came to a stop in front of Nicky. The timbre of his voice rasped through his heavy lips as a slight shake of his head sent his cheeks wagging.

"Which part?" Nicky glanced forward, not wanting to look up into his commander's face. He shifted to try to find a more comfortable position on the stiff cot.

"The part where you failed. That part. What happened?"

"They found us." Nicky shrugged. "I tried to run away."

"Mao was one of our top recon specialists, you were sent in to protect him." He leaned down and demanded in a quiet voice, "what happened?"

Nicky set his face firm and tried to keep the glare obscured behind his eyes. "A patrol came by our initial position. I didn't know who it was or how many there were so I decided to move rather than fight. But they caught my trail. I got away, I'm pretty good even with such a dead weight. I thought I had lost them so I took Mao to an abandoned building." The major stood up abruptly, Nicky raised his voice before he could speak. "I know it was a mistake. But I thought I was safe and don't blame me if I didn't want to fight with a half-dead man on my back. I set some quick defenses but they caught up too fast. I ran again."

"Why didn't you fight? That's why we sent you. You were sup-."

"I tried. I did get two if you heard. And if you also heard, it was MP-255 for god's sake and you know full well I can't fight ranged, especially not someone's like hers." MP-255 was the code name for one of the most notorious assassins in the Heaven's Gate War. Even with all the secrecy everything was covered in, she had still managed to make a name for herself.

"But you did." The major tapped his foot twice.

"Only after she killed Mao, nearly killed me and conveniently ran across an explosive trap I had set. I only meant for it to help me get away. I didn't think I'd get her with something like that."

The major shifted his shoulders and looked down at Nicky. "I want the full report before tomorrow. We'll see what happens to you after that." The sound of the rain rushed in and cut out as the major left.

Nicky sighed and hung his head. He didn't want to have to deal with this. He lifted his legs up on the cot. He just wanted to sleep. He leaned back but a hand held him firmly at the base of his neck.

"Can't lie down yet, Nicky. Got to get you stitched up first, remember? And I still need to properly bandage that hand." Trent wheeled over a small stool and sat down, spreading a small collection of tools on a tray in front of him. Nicky had forgotten, whatever Trent's contract was is felt pretty good to him. He swung his legs back to the ground but kept his head hung.

"It's the new age of discrimination," Trent said, looking at the flap the major had exited. "Don't let it get to you. Humans think that just because we can do things that they never can, we can do anything. They dehumanize us and thus expect things more than human." He shook his head and looked back at Nicky. "We're the first race of slave gods."


	3. Chapter 3

**Caught in the Dark**

He took a single, quiet step forward, his foot sinking slightly into the damp ground litter, the finely ground soil seeping up through his toes. He crouched down, stalking his prey. Closing his eyes, he calmed his breathing. The scenery began to come alive in his mind. The smell of the damp dirt formed the base layer of his world with each new sent adding a layer of intricate connection in his mental image. A light, crisp smell made the wet ferns and other bushes stand out. The rich, deep scent erected the trees all around. His ear flicked at a slight sound, his image began to move as insects and night birds were added to the ground and branches. A small snap of wood followed by a light rustle and shuffling placed a vole to his back left. Still he crouched and waited, patient in his search.

Another rustle in the leaves then nothing. He waited. Something moved again, coming his way. As it made its way closer, a swirl of perfume passed his senses, alighting a memory of taste to his tongue. His mouth watered at the slight metallic twinge. The swirl was soon followed with the unmistakable scent of what would never belong here, his human prey. The image formed in his mind, its clumsy limbs pushing its way through the brush, leaving behind a trail of the strong smell of blood.

He opened his eyes, the world coming alive in a different way, putting definitive lines and shapes to his superimposed mental image. He crept forward and made his way a distances in front of the man. He rubbed his back against the bark of a tree, the rough wood scratching through his fur. He jumped up and set his front paws against the tree, looking up into the limbs. This would be the perfect place to wait. He extended his claws and quickly climbed the tree, walking along a low hanging branch just over where the man would be stumbling. He laid down, motionless, wrapping his tail around the thin limb. He watched as his target came closer. It stopped almost right underneath him and looked around, seeming lost. Turning its back on him, it started to walk away, its feet dragging wearily against the ground. He tensed, this was it.

Mao launched himself out of the tree, closing the distance in only an instant, but time was all his. He reveled in the feel of the smooth muscles of the jaguar, the stretch of the claws, the flexing of sinew as he stretched his jaws wide, there was no escape. He came down hard on the man's back, knocking him to the ground. Mao didn't give him a split second to recover, he twisted his jaw and engulfed the back of the man's head and snapped his teeth shut. He felt the slight resistance as each little dagger in his mouth pierced the man's skull and the gush of blood that flooded down his throat. He laid there a second, feeling for the last of the man's twitching, listening as the beat of his heart slowed and stopped. That's when Mao opened his mouth and let the shards of bone fall out, that's when he got up off the carcass. He looked down on the splayed corpse and smiled. This hadn't been part of the mission, just a wonderful bonus. He hated this man, had caused him no end of trouble but not anymore. Mao sat back on his haunches and licked the blood from the sides of his mouth. It was no slight battle with the animal inside him to stop from tearing further into the man's flesh. He turned north and started to head back to meet Nicky.

He took a step forward and crumbled, the strength in his entire body gone in an instant. His head spun and his stomach convulsed. He tried to keep his eyes open but the world was spinning too fast around him. What was this place? The taste of blood was in his mouth but he couldn't remember whose it was. He tried to stand up but his arms were too weak to even lift his chest. He tried to rub his eyes but he couldn't even stretch his fingers, he used his wrist instead. He didn't remember putting gloves on, especially not fur gloves when he was in… where? He worked up the strength to lift his body but his arms stopped severely short. He looked down past his long nose and whiskers to see a thick paw in place of his hand. His head shot up. A man, dead on the ground, blood and bones. Him; confused, weak, smells inundated him as thousands of sounds pierced through the ringing in his ears. His vision throbbed. Memories finally stormed into his still spinning mind, his head hit the ground again. He was in South America. Why? Nicky, he needed to get back to Nicky but who was Nicky? The smells of the earth and the sounds of the jungle took over his mind again. He could tell he wasn't in his human body, he must have possessed some kind of animal, some kind of cat. That was his contract, he could switch his consciousness into any animal in sight but he had to leave his real body back, defenseless and dead. A throbbing pain made its way into focus, his head felt like it was being ripped open with a crowbar. His sight closed in on him and feinted.

* * *

Everything came back to Mao in an instant. Where he was, what he had done, what was going on. He opened his eyes and found his muzzle buried in the dead man's flesh. He couldn't stop his jaws tearing away at the man's side. It felt so good as the still warm blood ran down his throat. He hadn't had many of these things before but he decided he like the taste. He would have to hunt for them more. No! Mao turned away from the carcass and spit out the meat that was in his mouth. His real body must be in danger, it must have suffered some kind of damage, that's the only reason he would be losing his control over the instincts of the jaguar. He had to get back to Nicky, get back to his body. He leapt through the jungle, over ferns, tossing up the decaying leaves on the ground. No time for stealth or caution, he had little time to reach his body. It was everything he could do to concentrate through the pain in his head to control the unwilling body he was in. A fresh wave of pain brought Mao crashing to the ground and a searing pain like nothing he had ever felt before seemed to rush through his entire being. He knew then that there was no longer anything for him to go back to. He knew that the center, the base of his consciousness had been destroyed. Now all he had left was this floating mind, struggling to keep any kind of control in a wild animal. He felt himself at once being pulled away and pushed from the mind of the cat but he clung on to the edges of its mind. He could no longer direct its motion, control its path. He put everything he had left into two things, the sight of a clear cut area in the jungle, a wooden structure erected at the top of the red hill and the scent of a man named Nicky.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Look Behind the Eyes**

The roar of a jungle cat jolted Nicky awake. He was still in his cot, the stitches in his back feeling quite fresh. He couldn't have been asleep for long. The roar had sounded so close, even being muffled through the thick canvas of the medic tent. Another call reached Nicky's ears. The cat must be right at the edge of the compound. He looked over at Trent who was sitting at his desk, a pen held limp in his hand. He was looking in the same direction. He glanced at Nicky.

"Strange, don't you think? Wouldn't think some jungle animal would get so close to us humans."

Another call came from outside, weaker. It almost seemed pleading.

"Sounds like it's hurt or something," Nicky said.

Trent went back to writing. "Well, I may be a medic, but I'm no vet. It'll have to find some other place to get help."

"A wild animal comes this close to our compound, gets by all the patrols for what?" The thought wouldn't settle in his mind. It wasn't making sense. He stood up, the pain from his stitches throbbed against the anesthesia. He walked to the flap and pulled it back. It was still raining outside.

"Do not go out there, Nicky." Trent had stood up, he was pointing his pen at his patient standing at the edge of the opening without a shirt. "You can't get those bandages wet."

Nicky looked back and shook his head. "Sorry, Doc." He rushed out into the rain and could barely hear Trent call out to him.

"And don't call me Doc!"

* * *

Nicky hurried to the main gate of the camp and looked down the hill to the sheer edge of the jungle. There were at least five men standing defensive around a jet black jaguar. Even from a distance, Nicky could see the animal was exhausted but it didn't look like it was in any physical pain. It was obvious the men didn't want to kill the animal but they couldn't seem to scar it away. He heard footsteps sloshing through the red mud come up behind him. He turned to see Major Heinmann with another deep frown sunken on his face. The major came up beside him, only glancing briefly at Nicky's now soaking bandages, the blood starting to run down his skin. He, too, looked down at the strange scene.

"Just kill the thing!" the major yelled down to the men. "It's just a damn beast."

All five men and the lone jaguar turned their focus up the hill to the Major. The jaguar let out another weak attempt at a roar. Nicky couldn't understand it. It sounded like it was calling for help. The jaguar caught Nicky's eyes. He couldn't pull away from the animal's stare. It seemed it was looking at him like it was conscious of what it was doing of who it was looking at. There was just something behind its eyes that seemed almost human.

Nicky ran down the hill, all thought of his tender stitches forgotten. Was there even a chance? Could it really be that Mao had somehow hung on to this animal without his body? He hadn't even thought it was a possibility, to him a dead body meant a dead person but to Mao, it was the mind that mattered. The five men and the major watched as Nicky ran to the jaguar. He slowed as he approached it. After all it still could be just a wild animal. He got closer but the jaguar didn't back away, it didn't even tense. It opened its jaws and let out a short _kk-kk, kk-kk, _like some kind of house cat.

"Mao?" The jaguar took a step closer and made a soft noise. Even Nicky could make of the relief in the sound. "Major!" Nicky turned back up the hill. "It's Mao, he managed to hang on inside the jaguar."

The men around him began to talk. News had already spread the Mao had died in Nicky's last mission. It was terrible news that one of their top agents had been killed in the field. Having him back, in any form, would spread even faster than his death.

The major stood still at the top of the hill. He didn't show it but Nicky could tell even he didn't know exactly what to do about it. "Bring him up here for Heaven's sake, don't just let him die because you idiots couldn't move fast enough!" He turned and disappeared inside the camp.

Nicky turned back to Mao. He looked again into the eyes he used to know in human form. He could see the light, the consciousness behind the eyes flicker. He placed his hand on the back of the jaguars neck and felt the muscles tense under his hand. The eyes flashed and he could tell Mao was at the end of his strength. He quickly wrapped his arms around the large cat, hooking them under its front legs. Two other men came to help and they raced up the hill with the near limp animal in their arms. They reached to top of the hill and the gate. As they passed one of the stationed guards called out to them.

"Major Heinmann said to take Mao to Tent 18. And Nicky, you're supposed to go back to the medic. Major's orders."

They all took a left. Every outpost he had been to so far during the war had had a Tent 18 though none of them were actually tents. They were the only place in every compound that was an actual building. Rather than canvas or jungle wood, the walls were a thick plastic, darkened windows set at even intervals across the rather large building. Nicky had no idea what went on in Tent 18 but he liked what came out. Every now and then Nicky was given some device that played an integral part in his given mission. The gadgets reminded him of the life he had left in the States, when he used to only watch war and secret agents.

It was less than a minute before they reached Tent 18. There was already a crew standing at the doorway, ready to take the now limp jaguar. Inside he could see the major standing against a wall, a different frown set in his face. Nicky hoped that there was enough time for them to do something, anything that would save Mao from slipping away. The door closed and the other men walked away, leaving Nicky staring at the gray plastic of the door.

He turned and headed back to Trent. There was nothing left but to wait. 

* * *

BTDubbs: Thanks to TheUnseenProphet for the interest! Probably would never have written again if it wasn't for him. If you made it this far in mine, you should go check out his, he has a lot of stuff based on Bleach!


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